Taj Mahal

[JWF]

Thought I would add my $.02 to some past conversations regarding the Taj Mahal.

Most recent trip was this past weekend (10/24-10/26/14). I have stayed at the Taj for years. Based on the news stories, I was expecting the worst. Happily, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the place.

Over the past year or so, you notice the little things. First, the 2nd floor fountain next to the elevators is no longer running. One of the down escalators from the parking garage was always "undergoing maintenance". Plastic cups have replaced glass in the Chairman Towers. No pens in the desks, etc etc. My room had no clock radio, but my companions room did. Again, just subtle things I happened to notice. Not a deal breaker by any means. Other than that, the rooms seemed to be in the same great shape I remember, including having plenty of towels available, so it looks like no cutbacks in the housing staff.

I checked in with no issues. The person gave me the room keys, but said "Sorry, I don't have any envelope for the keys" My first though was that this wasn't a good sign.

Everyone was extremely pleasant, given the general mood of news. You could see the maintenance staff going thru the casino cleaning up the customer refuse (cigarettes, empty glasses, etc). No cutbacks in security or casino staff were noticeable. While some of the restaurants were closed (Buffet, Burger Place), all others were open for business, and they all seemed to be pretty busy. There was a constant stream of guests checking in.

I expected to see ghost town as far as the casino goes. The place was actually pretty crowded both days (you could say it was packed). Many people at the machines. To me, it looked like the Taj of old.

The talk now is that they are closing end of November. I don't know if I believe management when is says that business has dropped off so much they need concessions. As I said earlier, it was very crowded, so it looks like the shutdown of Revel and Showboat hasn't curbed their business a whole lot.

[DaBurglar]

well thanks for your input......you mentioned a few things that caught my eye, namely this new "revised" deadline that the Taj will shutter November 30 instead of November 13 like previously reported BEFORE the judeg ruled in Taj's favor about the unions.      Now it seems the Taj management is putting the pressure on the city and state to produce the HUGE cuts in tax and fee burden the Taj currently bears.......this one will be really dodgy in terms of who gives in to whom and at what price.There is no way Taj will get ALL it wants, the full amount of cuts.....quite simply, if the city and state grant what the Taj is asking for on that end, then the whole Point of the city and state even having the place operating is greatly diminished, and sentiment is they can possibly find another more prosperous owner/suitor to take over the abandoned Trump buildings if the hold firm and make the Taj either leave or abide by current terms.There is no reason to cave in to the demands of the taj at this stage, given that they already achieved what they wanted with the union, and given that there are so many closed casinos and excess customers out there for them to grab....if the taj has any CLUE left at how to run its business well, it should be able to survive and even thrive in the new situation.    I think the city and state should perhaps offer to meat the Taj at 1/4 or maybe 1/3 of the way, if that.......call Icahn's bluff this time.As for the improvements you said you saw vis-a-vis cleanliness and the staff's attitude, I think that's great but I would caution you not to put too much into it since it was only one visit and it sounds like you are not as frequent a visitor as myself.....I stay at the Taj about once every three weeks since October of LAst year (2013)  and I can attest that while there are still a few employees that are super nice and take pride in themselves, MOST are either burnt out, fed up or just plain mean.      But I will join with you in hoping for the best in the near future.....

[JIMDUECE`SWILD]

Taj will close in Dec..http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news ... c882e.html

[DaBurglar]

Taj will close in Dec..http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news ... htmlWhat's the latest as of today, 11/10/14??     In the video in the above referenced link, the report speaks of three things Icahn wants to keep Taj going:1)  Union concessions (which he received, at least for the moment)2)  State and city Concessions on tax and costs, which is still being discussed and which, at this point, seems stalemated3)  The last part of the video reports states ".....and 25 million dollars from an agency"....???   wtf?   What agency?   and where did 25 million come from?   

[JWF]

From the Taj website.   

http://www.trumptaj.com/d/trumptaj/medi ... sOfTaj.pdf

[JIMDUECE`SWILD]

I heard that the Taj will close on Dec. 12.
A friend just told me that the Taj put discontinue notice's on all the progressive slot machines.

[DaBurglar]

I heard that the Taj will close on Dec. 12.
A friend just told me that the Taj put discontinue notice's on all the progressive slot machines.oh man........ask yourself this:  That decrepit, rundown property with its long-outdated (and shabby to begin with) replica of the Indian Landmark, WHAT on earth will they do with it????In my opinion there is only one choice, LEVEL it.......just tear it down.......of course the Steel pier will be impacted, probably even closed down too.......so there goes any and all FOOT traffic to that end of the boardwalk starting next spring, which means RESORTS which sits RIGHT next door, will be severely impacted, and most likely will be the next to go.......this is not over yet folks......the BOTTOM has still yet to be reached........HOW can there be so many intransigent IDIOTS concentrated in one place such as AC???UPDATE:   I just read the "Open Memo" from Robert Griffin, CEO of Trump Taj.     He really does a good job of painting Union 54 Local in the worst light possible.....I dont know if everything he says is true, and of course he obviously is presenting HIS side of the issue so he slants it accordingly, but no matter what way you slice it, this is a mess.One thing that jumps out is his (Griffin's) "exposure" of the fact that the Union Healthplan is so excessively expensive (8400 bucks per employee) and the plan offered by Taj is a 2000 stipend for Obamacare.    Someone want to tell me just what exactly are the other Casino Union Workers getting for that 6400 dollar a year difference that is just SOOOOOO special they cannot bear to part with it?    Where are they all getting treated, Beverly Hills, CAlifornia?Another thing:  Who is this "relative" of the union president who is on the Union Healthplan payroll as a "Strategy" officer making 300 grand per year????    Now THAT really smells funny in the worst way......But the most important thing I just learned from reading this memo is this:   It is all about VOTES and the current sity and state officials who are in power DO NOT want to anger the Union and thus incur the wrath of all those voters (anyone who strudies politics KNOWS Unions have an outsized influence when it comes to election, simply because the represent such large blocks of voters and no one gets the vote out better than active Unions.)      So, the powers that be in the city and state government will not grant the Taj and its owners any concessions because the UNION will most likely engineer these elected officials downfall next election by portraying them as ANTI-Union  and PRO-Billionaire.        Wow....what a distortion of the truth......I had assumed (wrongly I now admit) it was about the actual revenues the city and state were potentially losing by granting the concessions.    Clearly the government(s) at both levels are prepared to jump off the cliff and see ALL revenue from Taj disappear by allowing it to close, simply because these officials place their ELECTION above all else, including the jobs and economy related to keeping Taj afloat.Newsflash:  This is the EXACT problem with our Federal Government....the gridlock in Washington has much to do with the fact that congressment and senators are preoccupied with maintaining their office and are ONLY interested in their home constituency rather than the nation.   

[JWF]

Actually, $8400/year is not a lot of money considering the cost of healthcare. I work for a small (+100 employee) company, and for the family plan, the company kicks in $1250 month for the cost ($15k/year). It's not an overly generous plan by any means, considering the deductibles, co-pays, etc that we have to pay ourselves, but it still is a good benefit.

But then again, a plan like the union has, with all those enrolled employees, they do probably get themselves some pretty good benefits.

Just sayin'.

[Minn. Fatz]

Mother of mercy, is this the end of Nucky?

re: unions, all i know is there was a time between about the end of WW2 and the early 1980s when workers' wages increased at about the same pace as increases in productivity. since then, productivity has continued to increase, while workers' wages have stagnated. coincidentally the early 80s marked the beginning of the decline of unions in the US. draw your own conclusions i guess.

[JIMDUECE`SWILD]

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/2 ... c__12.html